Thursday, October 23, 2008

I used to think Kleenex was fairly innocent product- but now that I know the truth about them I'd rather wipe my snot on my sleeve. Photographer Henry J. Fair introduced me to shocking views of Kleenex industrial byproducts as seen in his aerial photos. Old growth forests for your nose. Really. If you want to read some reporting on the topic:

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

An incredibly sexy photo of Saturn. One of the best things about my job is seeing the most extraordinary imagery available of the heavens. It can get easy to take them for granted, then one like this comes along. A year ago I would never have described an image from space as sexy- the fact that I did it today without thinking twice makes we wonder- has my nerd makeover been completed?

Edit of caption released with image:Here is a view from the Cassini spacecraft at Saturn's innermost rings, whose own shadows adorn the planet beyond.This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 35 degrees below the ringplane. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on April 21, 2008. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 620,000 kilometers (385,000 miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 67 kilometers (42 miles) per pixel. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

A departure from the usual installation of various sized images, the majority of the photos here in the latest Masao Yamamoto show are standard size and hung traditionally. The New Yorker review argues that the images hold thier own and I suppose they would for someone whose expectations for Yamamoto aren't as high as mine. The images are unquestionably gorgeous, but this is not the breathtaking sense of unmooring and possibility that I get seeing these images printed in sizes ranging from postage stamp to letter size, and scattered all over the wall in careful positions that reinforce the poetic relationships.Fussiness and preciousness wins over innovation here. Instead of revelation I felt fustration looking for the magic in these lovely prints that somehow revealed not enough and too much all at once. Above is one of my favorite images from the show.Photograph courtesy Yancey Richardson Gallery.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

This show of clever photos currently up at Robert Mann offers small scale black and white images. The visual puns and optical tricks used here feel effortless, but in most cases probably involved careful execution and a lot of trial and error. The photographer moves himself and objects about in the photos to create impossible continuities. One work I especially admired is posted here. The middle image shows the tossed handful of sand floating in air, the last image shows the handful returned to the beach. Funny and contemplative, these are really worth seeing in person- you simply cannot get a sense of the work from seeing thumbnails online.I felt this show was a bit like taking a vitamin. I wanted to like it more that I actually did like it. There seems to be a lot of art like this from the 70's good FOR you, but not so tasty.Photograph is courtesy Robert Mann Gallery

Friday, October 3, 2008

Alex really is a good sport. Here he drinks from a thimble for a photo. As you can see from this shot something is wrong with my polaroid back. Right now this is the least of my worries as the rest of my Mamiya RB67 has suddenly stopped working completely. The lenses AND the camera body, all pretty much at the same time. I've been using this camera regularly going on twelve years, and I had hoped I could squeeze by with it for one more year. It was a painful moment this week at Nippon camera repair when I handed over my camera body and lenses for parts. Maybe they will let me come and visit it.

Alex helped me with this one too. He is a good salt pourer, thimble- drinker, and egg dropper. Last weekend I turned down the chance to fly to London for the Discover photo shoot of Stephen Hawking in my role as Photo Editor. I stayed home and started a blog instead. Today I decided it is time to finally let folks know about it- is there anything more silly than a secret blog?

Thursday, October 2, 2008

This is a study for something I am working on. This immortal pair are like the sun and moon of the still life image. I've tried shooting butter in so many ways, in so many forms, but so far this simple image seems the closest to what I'm after.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Taken by an Unidentified Photographer, this image is helpfully titled: [Decapitated Man with Head on a Platter], ca. 1865.This is the standout image in the show "The American Tinytpe" currently up at the ICP, although [Unidentified Young Man with Bandaged Head] comes in a pretty close second place.Identified Photographers Susan Meiselas, Cornell Capa and Eugene Smith fill the the other exhibition spaces. It is incredible to see so much of Meiselas's work all in once place for the first time. Here is a woman who never gets stuck in a rut- she moves from one worthy project to the next with agility, and never repeats herself.

About Me

I am an artist/photographer, and a photo editor at The Wall Street Journal. This blog is an artist's journal, with reviews of shows and other artists, and anything else I fancy.
You can also check out my posts on The Wall Street Journal Ideas Market and Photo Journal blogs,
and my former blog for DISCOVER Media, Visual Science.
To get links to my new posts for The Wall Street Journal, please follow me on Twitter: @skyeye2000.
THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ON REBECCA HORNE PHOTOGRAPHY ARE MY OWN; THEY DO NOT REFLECT THE VIEWS OF MY EMPLOYERS, EDITORS, OR COLLEAGUES, WITH WHOM THIS BLOG IS NOT AFFILIATED.